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I´m about 6,5 months pregnant (31 weeks) and have done my body balance class every week, at least once, sometimes twice.

I´m not experiencing pain, but it is getting more difficult, sun salutations and hipopeners (sit-ups I gave up long ago, except the diagonal training of the abs). How ´bout those hipopeners, should I be more carefull or will the stretches really help me, anyone experience with this?

 

thanks!

Hi!

i would definately be wary of hip openers!  Stretching until you feel it only, or even back off a bit.  Your hips will be relaxing from 'relaxin' already to prepare for birth.  Anything supine should be modified due to the weight of your uterus on your vena cava!  Obviously hands and knees instead of prone position. Listen to your body, use wide leg childs pose a lot, take your time in salutations, even if you are behind the music, watch arms overhead and side bending as well.  Good time to really focus on breath and relaxing into the poses in a feeling good state. 

good luck

kim

In hip openers, all poses, with the exception of the Standing Split and Three Legged Dog are deemed OK for pregnant women.  If in a class and these poses are being done repeat previous pose or relax.  Remember not to compress the baby!

Other tips, never jump in and out of poses, rather step.  Avoid lying prone (on your abdominals) and always sit open leg and hip positions when seated to avoid restriction or strain on the uterus and your growing baby.  Make sure you do not overstretch your muscle. Stand in a widen stance  to support your base. Most importantly, listen to your own body, if it doesn't feel right, stop it and do something more comfortable. 

Hope that helps.  Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy and hope all goes well for the delivery.  Congratulations.

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Always Be the Best You Can, Never Ever, Ever Give Up! Dare to be Different!

Good advice above, but just because no one else said it, please check with your doctor on anything that makes you uncomfortable! Instructors are trained to give you modifications to help you through the program, but only after you've gotten that medical clearance.

 And once you have that clearance, be sure to bring any questions up to your instructor; s/he's probably been very observant of you and can help you with figuring out your comfortable limits!
 

Hi your Bodybalance Teacher has access to a Pregnancy Handout which we can give you it contains important information about our program. You also need to as stated above need to check with your Dr. In addition, you need to listen to your body.

Have a wonderful pregnancy :)

All of the advice so far has been great. Here are some basic changes you can make to your Sun Salutations for pregnancy... stepping wide in Mountain Pose , choosing Horse Stance instead of Down Dog, and Child's Pose instead of Plank and Crocodile. 

Ailenroc:

In hip openers, all poses, with the exception of the Standing Split and Three Legged Dog are deemed OK for pregnant women. 

This is slightly outdated info now. Last I heard from Jackie she was going to update this, but it seems nothing has come of this?

Last time I questioned her about Standing split and 3-legged dog she said that it was previously contraindicated due to the fact it can put too much pressure on the Sacroilliac joint, however Emma Barry did these poses throughout her entire pregnancy without any issues.

The latest advice as far as I know is not to do these poses if they feel uncomfortable. Which goes for all poses in balance really.

And also the class will get harder as pregnancy advances. In general the body is working double hard and it may or may not be necessary to take breaks during the class. I have had pregnant women in my classes do basically all the advance poses up until the week prior to birth (excepting abs and back). Others have had to pull back early on. It depends on the individual.

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Sherry:

All of the advice so far has been great. Here are some basic changes you can make to your Sun Salutations for pregnancy... stepping wide in Mountain Pose , choosing Horse Stance instead of Down Dog, and Child's Pose instead of Plank and Crocodile.

 What are the reasons you have for not doing down dog or plank?

I did my Balance training when I was pregnant and I did both of those without problem.  Obviously, I was being watched closely by our 2 trainers and neither of them gave any reason to modify these two poses.
 

The reason for modifying these poses is purely for comfort for the mother to be. Late in the second and in the third trimester these can become uncomfortable. Of course it is different for everyone, here specifically the original post stated that she was starting to have a hard time with Sun Sal's, this is a way to make them easier and still maintain a flow feeling. :)

Cool.  Thanks for explaining.

I forgot all about the original question. - I guess I need to sleep.

 

Hey misfit

Thanks for the update, greatly appreciated. Yes, quoted from instructor handbook given at training, some years ago.

I too have had pregnant women who have tried and felt comfortable with those poses, others have problems with balancing, everyone is different. In writing my last post, I neglected to say that I advise my pregnant women if they  feel comfortable doing these and other poses to  should continue in doing so, however if not they need to do something alternative.

As you mentioned it is an individual thing, also depending on how often and long they have  been participating in balance.  Emma Barry as you mentioned, is a seasoned exerciser and therefore would know how far to push the pose and how to execute it properly.  Far too many of our participants don't have this advantage and need to be reminded to steer on the side of caution.

In closing,  I have to say I do agree with what you are saying, and am a great believer in that we as instructors must take responsibility for our class and constantly remind and give permission, pregnant or not, to pull out of anything that feels uncomfortable/unnatural for them or that may be hurting or simply just does not feel right. (Give alternatives).

Keep the Flow!

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Always Be the Best You Can, Never Ever, Ever Give Up! Dare to be Different!

oh I just remembered something else that might be worth sharing. Sometime ago I had a pregnant participant in the first trimester who asked if it was ok to do back bends. I emailed Jackie and her response was that as long as the person felt fine doing it, then it's a great move. For obvious reasons the pregnant participant needs to stop doing it as soon as it becomes uncomfortable to do so.

I just thought I'd share Jackie's response on this one, since the backbend is an advanced pose which doesn't come up in balance very often.

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So, one of my instructor friends is pregnant, and we started talking....While I know we can do BodyFlow while pregnant, and I know of people who taught it, how do you teach your class all the options when you can't show them? I guess you could talk a lot about them. Or make everyone take pregnancy options with you? :)

As a pregnant instructor,  i utilised my best participants onstage for track 7 to show the prone lying positions. also I found tracks that were better to  teach pregnant for example any track 7 that had mostly horse stance. You are the coach they will do what you ask them.

Hi all Balance/Flow instructors and participants alike.  We now have access to the new Balance/Flow Pregnancy Guide Brochure.  It's available on this site under Resources I think. Anyway cruise around this site and you'll find it.  Download it and give it out to your pregnant members.

Keep the Flow!

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Always Be the Best You Can, Never Ever, Ever Give Up! Dare to be Different!